1/72 Hasegawa Su-27B Flanker |
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Gallery Article by Francois Poulic
on Aug 4 2003 |
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After having built an
F15, a logical choice was to build a SU27 which I saw (from too away.....) at Le
Bourget once. The only model shop in my city was closing down when this
model appeared, so I got the opportunity to have that model for only $22 (7
years ago so..........). Compared to the regular price of $55 !!!!!!!!!
which I would never spend on a box of plastic parts...........sorry to be less
respectful about our lovely hobby.
Of course for that price some photoetched details were included, as well as a
white metal seat. Well, the model was very "Hasegawa", so very
nice crisp engraving, nice moulding and so on, but the first thing that
disappointed me was the lack of recess areas to put the fine metal
grills........as no plastic details were existing I was forced to do the work
myself to get a good result.........finally lot's of work !, and it wasn't
finished..............
I always spend lots of time to look at the documentation to find something
"special" on an aircraft, and I prefer operational "used"
aircraft..........when I saw the BLUE 24 in the World Airpower Journal Aerospace
Super Profile #1 about the SU27, I was fixed, with its bicolor nose and
noticeable paint patches !(now there are so much pics.......)
But also, what impressed me a lot, was the way you always believe that the SU27
will touch the runway with its radar cone when it lands, so I decide to
represent the "bird" in that position.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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So, basically, all I
created flaps and leading edges were dropped, add a bunch of extra raised
details on the fins, air intakes, and on wing area. For the compressed
nose landing gear, I rebuilt it with a metal part from an Heller Hi Tech series
one, using the Hasegawa wheel. Also, the entire inside of the
airbrake was "dressed" as it should as the inside isn't the same shape
as the outside as given in the box. For the pleasure, I had the chaft
flares holes on the tail, as well as detailing the main landing gear haft
(almost invisible), as well as the targeting sight in the glass bubble on the
nose.
The painting was done with
EXTRACOLOR Enamels, that are really very thin, as also get the advantage to be
glossy, which avoid one operation for the decals application.
By the way, the color designed for the Flanker are very accurate for the Le
Bourget planes first seen at that time in Western counties, but far too dark for
a faded operational one. I've used the Extracolor Light Blue referenced as
Mil Mi 24 belly, the
light one referenced for the SU27 as medium, and lighted by 30% of white the
dark/blue gray shade. As I'm surely one of the slowest modeller of the
world, the Hi
Decal Line # 72-024 was issued, including Blue 24 deco, good time
saving. Weathering was done this time with a gray Windsor Artist Oil paint
(after decals and camo was sealed with a matt Acrylic varnish) as raw amber will
have been too much for a grey/blue shade, few stains and shoes prints around the
engines, and here we are !
I hope you will enjoy,
Francois Poulic
Note: Till then, I've discovered the huge work of Ken Duffey around the
SU27. If it is completely right that the rear is far too wide, the nozzles
too big, the general impression for me is quite a Flanker model no ? (What
is for sure, it is forbidden to put on the same table an Heller / Encore /
Hasegawa models.......................)
Click on
images below to see larger images
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